SC’s Nancy Mace calls on Biden to stop effort to impeach Trump as Pelosi moves forward
South Carolina Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace joined a handful of her House Republican colleagues over the weekend calling on President-elect Joe Biden to ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to abandon her efforts to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Mace, a freshman who represents the Palmetto State’s coastal First District, signed onto a letter with six of her Republican colleagues that said the efforts to impeach the president were “as unnecessary as it is inflammatory.”
“This impeachment would undermine your priority of unifying Americans and would be a further distraction to our nation at a time when millions of our fellow citizens are hurting because of the pandemic and the economic fallout,” the letter said. “We respectfully urge you to encourage Speaker Pelosi to set aside this partisan effort immediately.”
The letter is unlikely to stall House Democrats’ plans to impeach.
On Monday, the Democrat-led House introduced an article of impeachment that charges Trump with “incitement of an insurrection” after a violent mob stormed the Capitol Wednesday as Congress was debating electoral votes. Five South Carolina Republicans objected to certifying electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania.
That effort ultimately failed, and Biden was certified the winner.
Pelosi also tried to ask Vice President Mike Pence to convene the Cabinet to remove the president in his final days of office, but the motion was blocked by House Republicans Monday.
The House could vote on the charge as early as this week.
The article charges Trump with inciting the breach after thousands attended the “Save America March in Washington, where Trump told people he would “never concede” the November election and urged them to march on the Capitol.
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, told CNN this past weekend that if articles of impeachment pass in the House it may be weeks until they get sent to the Senate. Clyburn said the House could delay sending them until after Biden’s first 100 days in office so as not to slow the new president’s COVID-19 relief efforts.
“Let’s give President-elect Biden the 100 days he needs to get his agenda off and running, and maybe we will send the articles some time after that,” Clyburn told CNN.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 11:59 AM.
